Name the river that flows through Baghdad.................? View the step-by-step solution to: Name the river that flows through Baghdad.................? This question was answered on May 24, 2016. View the Answer Name the river that flows through Baghdad.................? philomenasusan48 posted a question · May 24, 2016 at 8:56am Top Answer Here is the solution... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(29711221) ]} kitetajunior answered the question · May 24, 2016 at 8:57am Other Answers After working on your question, I... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(29711213) ]} maximus89 answered the question · May 24, 2016 at 8:57am River Tigris The city is located on a vast plain bisected by the... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(29711253) ]} Here is the answer...

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Unique Facts About the Middle East: The Tigris and Eurphrates The Tigris and Eurphrates The Tigris (Old Persian: Tigr, Syriac Aramaic: Deqlath, Turkish: Dicle; biblical Hiddekel) is the eastern member of the pair of great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of Anatolia through Iraq. (Indeed, the name "Mesopotamia" is a Greek translation from the Old Persian Miyanrudan which means "the Land between the Rivers". Bethnahrin is the Aramaic word for the area.). The name Tigris comes from Old Persian and means "the fast one". Another name for this water used from the time of Persian Empire is Arvand which has the same meaning. The name Arvand is today the name of the lower part of Tigris (i.e. Arvand/Shatt al-Arab) in Persian.

The Tigris is approximately 1,800 km (1,150 miles) long, rising in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey and flowing in a generally southeasterly direction until it joins the Euphrates near Al Qurna in southern Iraq. The two rivers together form the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which empties into the Persian Gulf. The river is joined by many tributaries, including the Diyala and Zab. Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, is on the western bank of the Tigris, while the port-city of Basra straddles both the Tigris and Euphrates. In ancient times, many of the great cities of Mesopotamia stood on or near the river, drawing water from it to irrigate the civilization of the Sumerians. Notable Tigris-side cities included Nineveh, Ctesiphon and Seleucia, while the city of Lagash was irrigated by Tigris water delivered to it via a canal dug around 2400 BC. Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit is also located on the river and derives its name from it.

Tigris River and Mosul Iraq The Tigris has long been an important transport route in a largely desert country. It is navigable as far as Baghdad by shallow-draft vessels but rafts are required for transport upstream to Mosul. River trade declined in importance during the 20th century as the Basra-Baghdad-Mosul railway and roads took over much of the freight traffic. The river is heavily dammed in both Iraq and Turkey, in order to provide water for irrigating the arid and semi-desert regions bordering the river valley. Damming has also been important for averting floods in Iraq, to which the Tigris has historically been notoriously prone following snowmelt in the Turkish mountains around April. Recent Turkish damming of the river has been the subject of some controversy, both for its environmental effects within Turkey and its potential to reduce the flow of water downstream.

The Euphrates (the traditional Greek name for the river, which is in Old Persian Ufrat, Aramaic Prâth/Frot, in Arabic Al-Furat, in Turkish Fırat and in ancient Assyrian language Pu-rat-tu) is the westernmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia (Bethnahrin in Aramaic), the other being the Tigris. Its name originates from Old Persian and Avestan (Old-Iranian) huperethuua "good to cross over," from hu- "good" + peretu- "ford." The river is approximately 2,780 km (1,700 miles) long. It is formed by the union of two branches, the Kara (the western Euphrates), which rises in the highlands of eastern Turkey north of Erzerum and the Murat (the eastern Euphrates), which issues from Lake Van. The upper reaches of the Euphrates flow through steep canyons and gorges then southeast across Syria and then through Iraq. The Khabur and the Balikh River join the Euphrates in eastern Syria. They both have their origins in Turkey.

Downstream, through its whole length, the Euphrates receives no further water flow. North of Basra, in southern Iraq, the river merges with the Tigris to form the Shatt al-Arab, which in turn empties into the Persian Gulf. The river used to divide into many channels at Basra, forming an extensive marshland, but the marshes were largely drained by the Saddam Hussein government in the 1990s as a means of driving out the rebellious Marsh Arabs. Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the drainage policy has been reversed, but it remains to be seen whether the marshes will recover. The Euphrates is only navigable by very shallow-draft boats, which can reach as far as the Iraqi city of Hit, located 1,200 miles upstream and which is only 53 meters above sea level. Above Hit, however, shoals and rapids make the river commercially unnavigable. Its annual inundation, caused by snowmelt in the mountains of Armenia, has been partly checked by new dams and reservoirs in the upper reaches.

A 550-mile canal links the Euphrates to the Tigris to serve as a route for river barges. A man and woman make their way up the Shatt-al-Arab in Basra, Iraq. The river Euphrates is one of the four rivers that flow from the Garden of Eden according to Book of Genesis 2:14. It is the fourth river, after Pishon, Gihon, and Tigris, to form from the river flowing out of the garden. The river also marked one of the boundaries of the land promised by God to Abraham and his descendants. In the Hebrew Bible it is often referred to simply as "The River" (ha-nahar). In the Book of Revelation, it is prophesied that in the "end times" the river will dry up in preparation for the Battle of Armageddon. In Islam, some of the hadiths of Muhammad suggest that the Euphrates will dry up, revealing unknown treasures that will be the cause of strife and war. The Euphrates provided the water that led to the first flowering of civilisation in Sumeria, dating from about the 4th millennium BC.

Many important ancient cities were located on or near the riverside, including Mari, Sippar, Nippur, Shurrupak, Uruk, Ur and Eridu. The river valley formed the heartlands of the later empires of Babylonia and Assyria. For several centuries the river formed the eastern limit of effective Egyptian and Roman control and western regions of the Persian Empire. As with the Tigris there is much controversy over rights and use of the river. The Southeast Anatolia Development Project in Turkey involves the construction of 22 dams and 19 power plants by 2005, the biggest development project ever undertaken by Turkey. The first of the dams was completed in 1990. Southeast Turkey is still struggling economically, adding fuel to the discontent expressed by Turkey's Kurdish minority centered there. The Turkish authorities hope that the project will provide a boost to the region's economy, but domestic and foreign critics have disputed its benefits as well as attacking the social and environmental costs of the scheme. In Syria the Tabqa Dam (completed in 1973 and sometimes known simply as the Euphrates Dam) forms a reservoir, Lake Assad, that is used for irrigating cotton.

Syria has dammed its two tributaries and is constructing another dam. Iraq has seven dams in operation, but water control lost priority during Saddam Hussein's regime. Since the collapse of Ba'ath Iraq in 2003, water use has come once again to the fore. The scarcity of water in the Middle East leaves Iraq in constant fear that Syria and Turkey will use up most of the water before it reaches Iraq. As it is, irrigation in southern Iraq leaves little water to join the Tigris at the Shatt-al-Arab. Tigris-Euphrates river system | river system, Asia | Britannica.com Tigris-Euphrates river system Iraq Tigris-Euphrates river system, great river system of southwestern Asia . It comprises the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which follow roughly parallel courses through the heart of the Middle East . The lower portion of the region that they define, known as Mesopotamia (Greek: “Land Between the Rivers”), was one of the cradles of civilization. The Tigris and Euphrates river basin and its drainage network. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The two rivers have their sources within 50 miles (80 km) of each other in eastern Turkey and travel southeast through northern Syria and Iraq to the head of the Persian Gulf . The total length of the Euphrates (Sumerian: Buranun; Akkadian: Purattu; biblical: Perath; Arabic: Al-Furāt; Turkish: Fırat) is about 1,740 miles (2,800 km). The Tigris (Sumerian: Idigna; Akkadian: Idiklat; biblical: Hiddekel; Arabic: Dijlah; Turkish: Dicle) is about 1,180 miles (1,900 km) in length. The rivers usually are discussed in three parts: their upper, middle, and lower courses. The upper courses are restricted to the valleys and gorges of eastern Anatolia , through which the rivers descend from their sources, lying 6,000 to 10,000 feet (1,800 to 3,000 metres) above sea level.

Their middle courses traverse the uplands of northern Syria and Iraq, at elevations varying from 1,200 feet (370 metres) at the foot of the so-called Kurdish Escarpment to 170 feet (50 metres) where the rivers empty onto the plain of central Iraq. Finally, their lower courses meander across that alluvial plain , which both rivers have created jointly. At Al-Qurnah the rivers join to form the Shatt al-Arab in the southeastern corner of Iraq, which empties into the sea. Physical features General considerations Having risen in close proximity, the Tigris and Euphrates diverge sharply in their upper courses, to a maximum distance of some 250 miles (400 km) apart near the Turkish-Syrian border. Their middle courses gradually approach each other, bounding a triangle of mainly barren limestone desert known as Al-Jazīrah (Arabic: “The Island”) in eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and extreme northeastern Syria. There the rivers have cut deep and permanent beds in the rock, so that their courses have undergone only minor changes since prehistoric times.

Along the northeastern edge of Al-Jazīrah, the Tigris drains the rain-fed heart of ancient Assyria , while along the southwestern limit the Euphrates crosses true desert. The Euphrates River at Khān al-Baghdādī, on the edge of Al-Jazīrah plateau … © Nik Wheeler Eyjafjallajökull volcano Because the lower Shatt al-Arab forms a portion of the Iraq-Iran border, Iraq’s dependence on the river as its only access to the sea has been an issue of strategic importance to both countries. The vulnerability of the minor Iraqi port at Al-Fāw, at the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, was made clear by Iran’s capture of the city during the Iran-Iraq War. After that war, Iraq began cutting a channel to the gulf from Al-Zubayr, west of the main port of Baṣrah . It has been argued that the Persian Gulf War was brought on partly by Iraq’s desire to use the Kuwaiti islands of Būbiyān and Al-Warbah in the gulf as the off-loading points for that new channel.

Hydrology The regime of the Tigris and Euphrates depends heavily on winter rains and spring snowmelt in the Taurus and Zagros mountains. The Euphrates traverses a considerably greater distance than the Tigris from its mountain basin to the point where it meets the Mesopotamian alluvial plain at Al-Ramādī in Iraq. On its long, gently sloping route through Syria and northern Iraq, the Euphrates loses much of its velocity and receives only two tributaries, the Balīkh and the (western) Khābūr, both of them spring-fed and entering from the left. The rate of evaporation on the river has increased to as much as 50 percent with the creation of large reservoirs and related irrigation areas behind a number of dams. The Tigris, in contrast, flows down the edge of a long, multichanneled catchment basin and is fed by four strong tributaries, the Great Zab, Little Zab, ʿUẓaym , and Diyālā rivers, all of which derive their water mainly from snowmelt in Turkish, Iranian, and Iraqi Kurdistan .

The precipitous flow of its tributaries makes the Tigris more susceptible than the Euphrates to short-term flooding, and its short length brings its annual flood period a month earlier. Khābūr River, a major tributary of the Tigris River, near Tall Ḥalaf, Syria. Bertramz As it reaches the Mesopotamian alluvial plain above Sāmarrāʾ, the Tigris is a bigger, faster, more silt-laden, and more unpredictable river than the Euphrates at the corresponding point, Al-Fallūjah. That character is expressed in the Arabic name Dijlah, meaning “Arrow.” The mean annual discharge of the Tigris, before control by modern dams, was estimated at 43,800 cubic feet (1,240 cubic metres) per second, and the silt load at approximately one ton per second. Those estimates are roughly twice the values calculated for the Euphrates. In flood time the two rivers together carry as much as three million tons of eroded material from the highlands in a single day.

Some 90 percent of the water and silt that pass Baghdad and Al-Ramādī, however, never reaches the gulf; the water either evaporates or is absorbed in the extensive irrigated areas and marshes, and the silt settles upstream from the Shatt al-Arab. The water and sediments in the Shatt al-Arab derive mainly from the left-bank tributaries, the Karkheh and Kārūn, which rise in Iran. Climate The Tigris and Euphrates make habitable and productive one of the harshest environments in the world. The region has a continental subtropical climate, with average temperatures greater than 90 °F (32 °C) in summer and less than 50 °F (10 °C) in winter, as well as great diurnal variations. Precipitation is light in the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates but increases considerably at higher elevations in their source areas. In the higher elevations, where the rivers have their upper courses, winter winds are light and variable. Much of the precipitation falls as snow, which can lie in some places for half the year.

During winter, the mean temperature in the mountains is well below freezing, so that agriculture comes to a halt and communications are restricted. With the melting of the snow in spring, the rivers’ volume increases. The mounting flow is augmented in their middle courses by seasonal rainfall, which reaches its peak between March and May. In the lower courses of the rivers in the alluvial plain, rain can be torrential in winter but usually does not exceed 8 inches (200 mm) per year. Rain is a welcome supplement to irrigation, which since ancient times has made possible the region’s legendary agricultural richness. On the Mesopotamian plain, the most characteristic climatic feature is the extreme heat of the summer, with daytime temperatures sometimes exceeding 120 °F (49 °C). Often, there are drops of 40 °F (22 °C) from day to night. Humidity in most areas is as low as 15 percent. Dust storms, which occur throughout the year, are especially frequent in the summer.

Most wind-borne dust consists of particles of clay and silt mixed with minute fragments of shell, which are from a remnant dune belt that has been formed from abandoned irrigated fields and dried-up marshes in the area between the two rivers. Only occasionally are there true sandstorms, bearing material from the western desert. Plant life In ancient times, oak, pistachio, and ash forests covered the mountains and foothills through which the upper Tigris and Euphrates pass. New plantings, particularly in Turkey, supplement the scattered remnants of those forests today. In the steppe zone to the south of the mountains, some vegetation can flourish year-round, but the growing season in most nonirrigated areas is quite brief; the wildflowers and other plants that appear in spring die off in the heat of May and June. In the driest zones, camel thorn and prosopis are the dominant shrubs. The densest communities of plants exist along the rivers and in the marshes. Various reeds and the narrow-leaved cattail are abundant, and the giant mardi reed , which reaches a height of up to 25 feet (8 metres), has been used as a versatile construction material since antiquity.

The Euphrates poplar and a species of willow grow in small belts beside the rivers and canals; the poplar provides strong timber for construction and boat building, as well as handles for tools. The date palm is indigenous to the region. Five-stamen tamarisk and mesquite form thickets along the lower and middle courses of the Tigris and its tributaries, up to an elevation of about 3,300 feet (1,000 metres). Licorice is sufficiently plentiful to allow exports. Animal life Wild pigs are common in the marshes and have spread into newly planted eucalyptus groves in other parts of the alluvial plain. Jackals, hyenas, and mongooses are found along the rivers in southern Iraq, and a large variety of Indian jungle cat reportedly still inhabits remote tamarisk thickets. Lions were last sighted along the Tigris in 1926. Foxes, wolves, and gazelles are common in the alluvial plain, and some of those animals range as far north as central Anatolia.

Among the smaller animals are species of gerbils, jerboas (desert rats), hares, shrews, bats, hedgehogs, river otters, and the Buxton’s mole rat, which covers the entrance of its riverbank burrow with a mound of clay. Wild pigs (foreground) and traditional housing (background) in the marshland between the Tigris and … © Nik Wheeler Locally resident birds include babblers, bulbuls, scrub warblers, sand grouse, crows and owls, and a variety of hawks, falcons, eagles, and vultures. In spring and fall, many birds migrating between Europe and Asia—such as pelicans, storks, and various geese—fly along the rivers’ courses, and the marshes provide a breeding ground for some migratory species. There are several kinds of viper and a small cobra, as well as a variety of nonvenomous snakes. Lizards can reach lengths of nearly 2 feet (0.6 metre). Frogs, toads, and turtles abound in the rivers and marshes. Members of the carp family are the dominant freshwater fish of the Tigris-Euphrates system.

Barbels weighing as much as 300 pounds (135 kg) have been recorded. There are several varieties of catfish, as well as spiny eels. Some saltwater species—including anchovy, gar, and sea bream—range upriver at least as far as Baṣrah, and the Ganges shark has been known to reach Baghdad. People The lower courses of the Tigris and Euphrates are populated mainly by Arabs , while Kurds and Turks dominate the rivers’ upper basins. The regional population consists of both Sunni and Shīʿite Muslims, with the concentrations of each group varying with location in southern Iraq, as well as decreasing populations of Christians, Jews, and others. The Tigris River flowing through Baghdad. Robert Harding Picture Library/SuperStock Outside the cities and towns, the Arab population on the rivers’ banks practice stock breeding or agriculture. The way of life varies from the nomadism of the small remaining numbers of desert Bedouin to the settled condition of the villagers ( fellahin ) in the agricultural districts.

The traditional pattern of village life among the fellahin in Iraq suffered severe disruptions, from both general societal forces and protracted warfare, during the second half of the 20th century. Even the formerly isolated Maʿdan , or Marsh Arabs, who long occupied the vast palustral triangle between Al-Nāṣiriyyah, Al-ʿAmārah, and Baṣrah, increasingly have been displaced by war and other disruptions, as well as by upstream damming that has diminished the marshlands. North of Al-Fatḥah Gorge, the Tigris and its tributaries pass through country in which Arabs are a minority. For centuries, the plains of northern Iraq furnished winter pasture for Kurdish and Arab tribes. In the early 17th century, the Ottoman sultan Murad IV settled Turkmen in the region in an effort to secure his communications with Baghdad. The majority of Kurds receded into the Assyrian plain and the mountains of northern Iraq, western Iran, and eastern Anatolia. The Kurds now comprise settled, seminomadic, and fully nomadic groups, often with members of the same tribe carrying on each of the subsistence strategies. Both rivers in their upper courses run through areas that are predominantly Kurdish.

Page 1 of 2 The Tigris River - Ancient/Classical History Glossary The Tigris River - Ancient/Classical History Glossary Tigris River north of Tikrit, Iraq. CC Flickr User jamesdale10 By N.S. Gill Updated August 15, 2016. The Tigris is one of the two main rivers of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). The Tigris is the river to the east (towards Persia [modern Iran]); the Euphrates , to the west. The Tigris runs from Lake Hazar, in the Taurus Mountains, in Turkey, joins the Euphrates, and flows into the Persian Gulf. The Encyclopedia Britannica says the Tigris is 1,180 miles (1,900 km) in length. Irrigation through seven millennia has changed the course of the river.

Alternate Spellings: From the Encyclopedia Britannica: Sumerian: Idigna; Akkadian: Idiklat; biblical: Hiddekel; Arabic: Dijlah; Turkish: Dicle Examples: The Tigris and Euphrates are the two rivers between which Mesopotamia ('the land between two rivers') ran. "11 Semiramis founded other cities also along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, in which she established trading-places for the merchants who brought goods from Media, Paraetacenê, and all the neighbouring region. For the Euphrates and Tigris, the most notable, one may say, of all the rivers of Asia after the Nile and Ganges, have their sources in the mountains of Armenia and are two thousand five hundred stades apart at their origin, 2 and after flowing through Media and Paraetacenê they enter Mesopotamia, which they enclose between them, thus giving this name to the country.

After this they pass through Babylonia and empty into the Red Sea [the Persian Gulf].​" continue reading below our video Test Your General Science Knowledge "And the name of the third river is Hiddekel [Tigris]: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates." On the location of the Garden of Eden, From KJV Genesis II Go to Other Ancient / Classical History Glossary pages beginning with the letter Map of Middle East Rivers - Indus River Map, Tigris River Map, Euphrates River Map - World Atlas Map of Middle East Rivers - Indus River Map, Tigris River Map, Euphrates River Map Dozens of rivers are found in the Middle East (Asia). Most are small, so here we highlight the four major ones, and offer a brief description. Amu Darya: This river flows from a high plateau in the Pamir Mountains of central Asia, across southern Tajikistan, forming its border with Afghanistan, then northwest, forming parts of the borders between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and on into the Aral Sea.

It's (1,578 miles) (2,539 km) in length. In ancient times the Amu Darya was called the Oxus. It was part of Persia, and played a significant role in the military campaigns of Alexander the Great. Euphrates: From the Caucasus Mtns of Armenia, it flows southwesterly across east-central Turkey, then generally southeast through Syria and Iraq, ending in the waters of the Persian Gulf. It joins with the Tigris in southern Iraq, and from that junction continues on as the Shatt al Arab. Overall it's (2,235 miles) (3,596 km) in length, and is certainly the longest river in the Middle East. Historically important in ancient history, the once great city of Babylon stood on its banks. Indus: It begins in the high mountains of Tibet (southwestern China), flowing northwest through the Jammu & Kashmir region of India and Pakistan, then generally south through Pakistan, ending in the Arabian Sea. The Indus, through a series of dams and canals, provides much of the irrigation and power for central Pakistan.

It's (1,800 miles) (2,896 km) in length. Tigris: Rising in the mountains of southern Turkey, the Tigris flows southeast through Iraq, where in the southern part of that country it merges with the Euphrates to become the Shatt al Arab, which then flows to the Persian Gulf. The river has numerous small tributaries running from its eastern bank, and is (1,180 miles) (1,899 km) in length. The Land of Eden Located Chapter Five Chapter Five The Changing River Courses The four river-heads we have suggested in the preceding chapters fit our "treasure map" beautifully except for one vital point. Our theoretical map requires the four rivers to join into one river, the River of Eden as we called it, in a relatively small area, the Land of Eden.

Our great difficulty at the moment is that while the Diyala (Gihon) joins the Tigris (Hlddekel), and the river-bed Wadi Ubaiyidh (Pison)links onto the Euphrates near the same region, the Euphrates and the Tigris after coming near each other diverge again and do not unite until something like 200 miles further on. This distorts the entire picture and makes it utterly unlike our "treasure map." The requirement of our text is that the four river-heads, looking upstream from the Garden of Eden should divide from the one locality, the Land of Eden, into the four distinct heads. The one locality would scarcely be a great stretch of country 200 miles in length! At first glance this fact would seem to utterly destroy our theory. However, if we but look into this a little further we will discover not only a most satisfactory solution to this problem, but the solution itself seems to strengthen our theory and add to its certainty. It is a known fact now, that enormous changes have been taking place in the configuration of the Babylonian plains. A generation ago the extent of these changes was not realized.

The changes are due to the huge quantities of silt which the Euphrates and Tigris river systems have been depositing in the plains, producing change after change. So rapid is this depositing of silt that the head of the Persian Gulf is receding southeasterly at the astonishing rate of something like 72 yards per year! This factor alters the whole picture immediately. It means that about 3,500 B.C. the shoreline of the head of the Persian Gulf must have been around 200 miles inland from where it is now, and not very far below the region where the Euphrates and Tigris near each other, and the Dlyala and the Wadi Ubaiyidh come in on either side. It also means that the point at which the Euphrates and the Tigris now join was then deep under the waters of the Persian Gulf! It is a bit startling to realize that at that early date the Euphrates and the Tigris evidently did not join at all. Each seems to have emptied into the Persian Gulf separately quite some miles apart.

As if that factor was not confusing enough, we are now aware that at least two times the river Euphrates has shifted its channel westward, and the Tigris has shifted easterly at least once. By the disposition of silt the rivers have built up their beds and banks until the water level got higher than the surrounding plains; then during some flooding season one or other has gone over its banks and washed out a new channel for itself. Thus the courses of the rivers have changed again and again. To add to the matter, man has had a hand. Early inhabitants cut irrigation canals, and sometime the canals have become diverges of the river; and perhaps old river-beds have been turned back into canals. Speaking of the older identifications proposed for Eden by Friedrich Delitzsch and A.H. Sayce and others, Unger's Bible Dictionary comments "under the heading, "Eden": "Such identifications are now impossible.

Both the Tigris and the Euphrates have shifted their river beds in the course of millennia and enormous deposits of silt have drastically changed the entire configuration of lower Babylonia." It is very interesting to note that the changes in the two rivers mentioned above was in each case a moving farther apart. The Euphrates has moved westerly, the Tigris easterly. Was there an earlier move which separated these rivers the one from the other? The suggestion is not unreasonable. It is in harmony with the known fact that the rivers have altered their courses many times and agrees with such evidence as we have gleaned from the Scripture record. The Past and Present Tenses Here it seems appropriate to draw attention to what appears to be a very remarkable uses of past and present tense in the text before us. The writer of the Book of Genesis uses the present tense when speaking of the four river- heads. The fourth river, he says, "is" Euphrates. The third "is" it which goeth to the east of Assyria. The second "is" it that compasseth Cush. The first "is" it which compasseth Havilah.

While it is true that the word "is" in the King James Version is printed in italics, indicating that it is supplied by the translators, nevertheless those learned translators certainly considered the present tense to be implied in the Hebrew, and I am unaware of any question of the accuracy of their translation at this point. But in sharpest contrast to the foregoing, we see that he does not use the present tense when the same writer, only one sentence previously, describes the single river formed from these four, and which flowed out of Eden to water the Garden. (Gen. 2:10). There he says, "A river went out of Eden to water the Garden" He puts it in the past tense. He does not say, river goeth, but, "A river went." Furthermore, as if to emphasize the matter, and in the same sentence, looking upstream from the viewpoint of the garden, he states, "From thence" (Eden) "it WAS parted, and BECAME four heads." He could just as easily have said, "From thence IS parted and BECOMES four heads," but he seems careful to avoid the present tense in this place.

Surely it is evident that, while he could use the present tense in respect of the four river-heads, he could not do so in respect of the River of Eden. That part had altered. The four river-heads sti11 existed in his day, but evidently the River of Eden did not. The four river-heads no longer united to form one, but had at some time parted company. Therefore he could not use the present tense when dealing with the River of Eden. Actually, this is just as we should expect. There would naturally be but very little change, if any, in the channels of the river-heads, but in the lower region where the combined silt from all four was being dumped hour by hour, day by day, year after year, that the channel should become clogged forcing the rivers to spillover into new channels we would expect, and that is apparently exactly what did happen. By 1400 B. C. the River of Eden had ceased to be; it could be referred to only in the past tense, and the writer of Genesis 2 had to use that past tense. When Was Our Text Written?

Still another interesting point arising from our theory is that if we are anywhere near right in our identification of the river-head Pison, it could well provide an important clue as to the date when the description of Eden was written. The Pison, wherever exactly it lay, has dried up and ceased to be, for no river now runs from the North Arabian Desert into the Euphrates. Today we must use the past tense for it. But not so the writer of Genesis 2; he uses the present tense. Obviously it still existed when Genesis 2 was written. But when did it dry up? At present we have no precise data on this, but H. A. Winckler whom we quoted before in this, stated that the desert on the other side of the Red Sea, between the Nile and the Red Sea coast, about 3,500 years ago was sufficiently watered to support large herds of wild cattle, etc. It is likely that the drying up process was continuing equally on both sides of the Red Sea. If the Sahara west of the Red Sea dried up soon after 3,500 years ago, then the Pison River could not have existed much after that time.

This would suggest a possible date of l500BC or 1400 BC. That is the approximate traditional date for Moses, a date still supported by large number of scholars. Some scholars would suggest a date for Moses one or two centuries later. But we do feel that by so late a date it would not have been possible to use the present tense when writing of the Pison River. How the Four Rivers United The exact courses of the four rivers in the Babylonian plain at early a date are not known. Again, only research on-the-spot can hope to satisfactorily settle such a question, but with due reserve we would like to suggest the possible courses as they were in Adam' s day. We suggest that the Euphrates left its present channel at or near about Burmah and Sirriyah Bunds, about 10 miles above Falujah, and flowed easterly through what is now the Gurmah or Sirriyah Channel into the west side of the now dry, small lake Aqarquf. This lake bed is about 10 miles in length, lying north-westerly and south-easterly.

The south east extremity is approximately only six miles from the Tigris, and probably overflowed into the Tigris. The overflow might have followed the course of the Washshash Drain, which empties into the Tigris just below the city of Baghdad. This would bring these two main rivers into conjunction first. . It is only 10 miles further down stream that the Diyalah River (or Gihon) comes in from the north. This suggestion brings three of the rivers together. Whatever the course of the other river (the Pison) on the Arabian side, its waters would simply have to seek the main channel of drainage being followed by the other three rivers. Any other course appears most unlikely. The Pison River in all likelihood flowed from El Wadian through a present dry wadi, then past Shitatah in the Shamiyah Desert. Shitatah is about 45 miles west of the ruins of Babylon.

Continuing eastward over the Shamiyah Desert it would flow through the tiny Abu Dibis Lake (now dry), and follow the wadi from there to Kerbala, then east-north-east along the route of the present day canal to where it meets the Euphrates channel, near the Hindiyah Junction. Beyond that the ancient path of the river is most conjectural. The Euphrates was not at this point in earliest times, but, as suggested above, seems to have united with the Tigris. But the Pison may well have next run down what is now called the Babylon Channel, then followed the Nil Channel from Babylon past Kish and into the Kutha Channel. Now about 15 miles below the juncture of the Diyalah and Tigris rivers, the Tigris River makes a remarkable bend southward, southerly from Bulman Pak and the striking ruins of Ctesiphon. It is possible that this long loop may mark the place where the Tigris left its present channel to join the Kutha Channel. In any case, this is the closest the Tigris at present approaches to the Kutha Channel.

The mingled waters of the Euphrates, Tigris and Diyalah would then follow down the Kutha Channel until joined by the Pison coming in from the west below Kish, thus bringing all four rivers together. Eden Located This point at which the waters of the four heads finally united into one must have been, by our text in Genesis 2, and by our theory, within the confines of the Land of Eden. Probably the name Eden would include the entire region up as far as where the Euphrates joined the Tigris by Baghdad. The four river heads having combined in the Kutha Channel would then follow that channel on south-easterly as "the river of Eden." On the banks of the river (the Kutha Channel) the Garden of Eden would be located, being "eastward in Eden." This would be between Kish and Nippur, nearer to Kish than to Nippur.

In later history, after the rivers had changed their courses, the combined waters of the Tigris and Diyalah diverting to the north via the present Tigris course to Kut, and thence down the Hai Channel, the Euphrates diverting westerly, the name "Eden" would be left in the middle, with rivers to the north and south of it. Thus it would come to mean the plains between the rivers. And although scholars have rejected as untenable A. H. Sayce's proposal for the site of the Garden of Eden as being at Eridu (Abu Shahrein), still his remarks on the name "Eden" seem to hold good. Writing on "Eden", he says on page 643, Volume 4, "A Dictionary of the Bible,"(ed. J. Hastings, Scribner 1911): "The cuneiform inscriptions have cleared up the geography of the garden of Eden. The Sumerian name of the plain of Babylonia was Edin. This was adopted by the Semites under the name Edinu.

"Its Assyrian equivalent was Zeru, corresponding to the Arabic Zor, the name still applied to the depression between the Tigris and Euphrates." Thus we find that the region we are driven to by examination of the text of the Scripture in relation to the four river-heads, as being the location of Eden, is confirmed and supported from the cuneiform writings of ancient Babylonia. The river courses we have suggested above are set out on the map below. However, the reader is warned that these are suggestive only, pending light from further research and study. Nevertheless, whatever illumination may be gathered in the future on the subject, the degree of support from every direction for our theory seems strongly indicative that we must be at least close to the truth. A careful examination of the map above will bring out still another remarkable feature. We stated before that the view-point of the writer of Genesis 2, appeared to be that of one looking upstream from the garden and describing the sources of the river coming out of Eden.

Now, following on our map, upstream from the garden we find the branches of the river come in the following order: No.1, the Pison, coming from Wadi Ubaiyidh No.2, the Gihon or Diyala coming in from the north No.3, the Hiddekel or Tigris No.4, the Euphrates itself. Turning back to our text in Genesis, we find that this is precisely the order in which the ancient writer named the four sources: He not only names the four in the same order, but actually numbers them, as if to make us recognize that he is giving them in the exact order in which they will be met when following up the river. I must confess that the fact of the numbering of the river-heads in the text had no meaning for me until I first sketched the map above. Then it dawned upon me that the branches from the river were in the same order as in the text. Needless to say, it was most thrilling and elating to discover this quite unexpected confirmation.

More than a Myth Having now ascertained what appears to be the correct location of the Land of Eden, and the approximate locality of the garden which God planted, it is obvious that the Genesis account is more than just myth. It has geographical reality. This begins to reflect genuineness, not myth. To those who have always believed the Genesis account it will be encouraging to see evidence that the story is more than myth. Those of the contrary part will have to admit at least that the setting of the story is a real, actual locality. Is it not moving to be so very close to putting our finger on the very spot on the map which was the beautiful home of our first parents? To consider that here the first little sin was committed? It was such a "little sin", just to eat a bit of fruit from one forbidden tree. Yet that "little sin wrecked the world. The little fox spoiled the vine. When our first parents disobeyed their Creator, when sin first entered the human heart, it was almost the greatest and most heart-breaking tragedy ever to occur. "Almost" the greatest? Yes, almost, not quite. There is one greater tragedy.

Contemplation of the Eden story leads us to another story, the story of Calvary. There the Lord Jesus Christ took our sins in His own body on the tree and provided the only remedy for the sin story which began in Eden. His precious blood! He is the propitiation for our sins (the sins of His followers), and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world (I. John 2:2). Was Calvary the greatest tragedy? No. Calvary, love's supreme sacrifice and proof, was not a tragedy but a conquest. Calvary appears as a tragedy to those who have forgotten Eden. Without the tragedy of Eden, if man did not fall into sin, Calvary would be only a tragedy, and the greatest; but with the tragedy of Eden fully in view, that the human race is a fallen race and requires redemption, Calvary becomes the greatest triumph. What then is the greatest tragedy? It is this, to pass through life and miss the remedy of Calvary. Here every man who wills may find not only pardon for his sins, but an inward renewal to purity with the strength to withstand sin so that the tragedy of Eden will never be repeated within him.

To miss that is the greatest tragedy, for, having lost this one and only chance, there is not another sacrifice that can be made. "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins" (Hebrews 10:26). How good of God to provide Calvary as the answer to Eden. End of Chapter Five Ancient Rivers - What Were the Most Important? Ancient Rivers By N.S. Gill Updated August 09, 2016. All civilizations depend on available water, and, of course, rivers are a fine source. Rivers also provided ancient societies with access to trade -- not only of products, but ideas, including language, writing, and technology. River-based irrigation permitted communities to specialize and develop, even in areas lacking adequate rainfall. For those cultures that depended on them, rivers were the life blood. In "The Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant," in Near Eastern Archaeology, Suzanne Richards calls ancient societies based on rivers, primary or core, and non-riverine (e.g., Palestine), secondary. You'll see that the societies connected with these essential rivers all qualify as core ancient civilizations .

Fortified citadel of Halabiye, on the bank of the river Euphrates, Syria. Roman and Byzantine civilisation, 3rd-6th century. De Agostini / C. Sappa/ De Agostini Picture Library/ Getty Images • The Euphrates River Mesopotamia was the area between the two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. The Euphrates is described as the southernmost of the two rivers, but also appears on maps to the west of the Tigris. It starts in eastern Turkey, flows through Syria and into Mesopotamia (Iraq) before joining the Tigris to flow into the Persian Gulf . More » continue reading below our video 4 Tips for Improving Test Performance Genie of the Nile Flood Bronze from Late Period Egypt Now at the Louvre. Rama • The Nile River Whether you call it the River Nile , Neilus, or Egypt's River, the Nile River , located in Africa, is considered the world's longest river. The Nile floods annually because of rains in Ethiopia. Beginning near Lake Victoria, the Nile empties into the Mediterranean at the Nile Delta .

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Question: What is the name of the river which flows through Baghdad?
Answer: Tigris